Overall, the cool tools sessions I attended are very applicable in various classroom settings. Not to sound like a huge know it all, but there were many of the cool tools that I already have used or have had prior knowledge. Throughout the week I attended Evernote, Mindmeister, Infogr.am, Remixing online media with Storify, Popcorn Maker, and Meograph, LoiloNote, and Symbaloo. Furthermore, I was blessed with the opportunity to present on Celly.
Though, I have used Evernote, Mindmeister, and Infogr.am before, it was exciting to see how other educators are using these tools in their classroom and by attending the sessions, it allowed me to ask questions that I was not able to answer by playing around with the tool myself.
Being further educated on the tools that were presented, I began to consider the use of Mindmeister with my 8th graders when it comes to constructing an argument. I refer a lot of my argument teaching to George Hillocks book, __Teaching Argument Writing, Grades 6-12: Supporting Claims with Relevant Evidence and Clear Reasoning__and my students use crime scenes from the __Crime and Puzzlement__ books. I want my students to work collaboratively to analyze a crime scene and use terms they will ultimately use in the argument papers they will write. Terms such as evidence, claim, and reasoning/conclusion. These terms will be used in a mind map where the students will work together to try and figure out who the killer is and then each student can use the mind map that was collaboratively developed to write their own paper. As you can see in the screenshot below, the students have pulled out pieces of evidence and made a claim. From there, the students came to a conclusion about this piece of evidence. As the students work through the crime scene, they use all of the pieces of evidence they have gathered to make a decision who the murderer was. In addition to Mindmeister, students would be using Google Documents to work collaboratively on a Police Report.
As the students work through their brainstorming and police reports, they will be working with Common Core State Standards. Below is the Standard
CCSS - W.8.1
1. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
Establish and maintain a formal style.
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
As I continue to think about this tool, I think it is very easy for student to use and easy for teachers to demonstrate and model for their students. On the other hand, Mindmeister’s free edition only allows users to create three maps and if I want my students to use this throughout the year, this limitation could pose some potential issues. Although upgrading with Mindmeister is not overly expensive, it is a monthly fee and the fee can add up fast. I do feel that I could get by using the basic edition, but could potentially be missing out on the additional features the tool has to offer.
In conclusion, I felt the Cool Tool sessions were very beneficial. However, by Thursday, my brain had had enough. I needed more time to process all of the information from the session. Furthermore, I would have like time to play with the tool more.
Additional Course Assignments:
1. Describe some of the digital literacies that you learned about this week. What did you know about these topics before the week began and how have this week’s experiences contributed to your understanding of these digital literacies?
One of the many things that I learned about this week was how less skilled readers operate in online spaces and what more skilled readers do (Julie Coiro and Michelle Hagerman). Prior to coming to the institute, I knew, in general, students did not have a lot of strategies for locating information on the internet. In addition, I knew students had difficulties with critically evaluating information they located on the internet. My students struggle with this constantly when it comes to the multigenre research project we do in the classroom.
I learned the strategies good online readers do. For example, they ask questions, read to locate information, read to evaluate information, and read to synthesize information. These strategies presented to us, are going to be helpful when scaffolding for my own students.
My biggest takeaways from Julie and Michelle when they spoke on Tuesday were:
Overall structures for scaffolding online inquiry are driven by purpose, rather than strategy.
Development does not develop across discrete skills, but more by drawing attention to the layers of complexity and the recursive nature of the inquiry process.
I have had prior knowledge about inquiry based learning and have even attended some PD on Project based learning which possess some of the same elements. However, the complexity of inquiry based learning and the strategies involved with it are going to not only going to help my understanding, but have already help guide me in the process of developing lesson and unit plans for my students that are strictly inquiry based.
2. Now that you’ve had this professional development experience, how are you defining “digital literacy?” What is your personal perspective on digital literacy and how has your definition changed or evolved this week? Where possible, make specific connections to readings, conversations, presentations, or activities that were especially important to the evolution of your definition of digital literacy.
Digital literacy is much more than the use of technology in an educational setting. It is the use, evaluation, and the ability to maneuver through different medias in such as way that reveals the creativity individuals have the potential to express. To me it also means teaching students how to be responsible with the different types of technologies they come into contact with whether it is Facebook, Twitter, a cell phone, tablet, or texting a friend. In all honesty, I feel I will always be a learner of digital literacy and my definition will forever be evolving. The slide below presented by Renee on Wednesday really helped me in constructing my definition, especially the reflection piece. I feel it is vitally important for students to reflect back on their work and discuss why they choose certain medias or tools to use in their digitally literate lives. The five words listed on the slide truly do help people understand what digital literacy encompasses.
3. How do digital literacies affect the way you think aboutacademic content?
My view of academic content has changed dramatically because of digital literacies. One specific example I constantly revisit is the book report. Traditionally students read a book and then wrote or typed a one to two page summary of what the book was about. Since digital literacies have been gaining ground, students have become less motivated to not only read, but to produce a piece of writing that lacks creativity.
Today, students can produce more creative media that demonstrates they have actually read the book. In addition, students are reading differently today as well. Many students are walking through classroom doors with Kindles, iPads, and other tablets that allows them to read virtually anywhere and they can take multiple texts with them. As their teacher, I have to be open to the idea of students using their mobile devices in my classroom. On the other hand, when thinking about a “report”, students can produce a __Glog__ where they can display visual literacies that represent their book while using other forms of media to help display their knowledge within their poster. Students can also produce a digital book trailer using a tool like __Animoto__. Book trailers are a quick thirty second glimpse into what the book is about. It is similar to a movie trailer you see on
television. By clicking on the book cover you can see a student example of a book trailer.
Now when students produce media such as a Glog or a book trailer, they have to not only think about the written text incorporated into their project, but they have to think about choosing pictures, music, animations, transitions, speed, etc. Students are still keeping their audience in mind, but now they have to think of the other elements listed and also think of why they may choose a certain song or picture and how that is going to affect their video or poster. In addition, what message it is going to send to their audience.
As students think about all of these things, they are allowed to be more creative and display their strengths, especially if they are given choices in what media they use to complete their report. Being their teacher, I have to think about all of these elements too because these are the types of medias students are exposed to on a daily basis through the internet and their mobile devices. Choice is another area that digital literacies have allowed me to give to my students. By giving the students choices, they take more of a vested interest in their work.
By allowing my students to use their mobile devices and allowing them to explore different media, they are getting exposed to tools they may potentially work with in the job force. Now that digital literacies are completely infused into my classroom, I am getting students in touch with how digital media works and letting them play with the very same tools that are used when media is produced for them.
4. How do digital literacies affect teaching practices? What overarching considerations must teachers give, in general, to the interactions of digital literacies and how to teach? Now, focus on your own pedagogical practice. How will your new understanding of digital literacy affect the way you teach? Describe an example of how you will differently employ a specific teaching practice in your own context as a result of what you learned this week.
Teachers aren’t and can’t just teach with pencil and paper anymore. Thought the two will never disappear, how students learn today has drastically changed. Today, teachers must understand that students are digital. Teachers must rethink the use of cell phones, tablets, and laptops into their lessons. In addition, I feel educators need to teach students why to chose certain music, images, words, transitions, etc. when it dealing with digital literacies. Furthermore, teachers need to realize literacy is much more than a five hundred word essay.
When it comes to my own pedagogical practice, I am going to keep students at the center of my lessons and units, which is something I have not done in the past. This was one of the big "ah ha" moments for me during the week. One example I am going to incorporate into my classroom is giving my students more choice when it comes to presenting what they have learned. With this differentiation, students will take a more vested interest in their learning and become more creative when it comes to their work. I am definitely going to be keeping my students in the center of what we do everyday in our classroom.
5. During the week, you were introduced to several concerns and promising practices around digital literacy, digital pedagogy, social networking, and student voice that are circulating among communities of educators, librarians, and youth media specialists. From your perspective, what promising practices show the most potential? Which specific concerns are most pressing? What key takeaways will you champion in your own work setting(s) so that together, you and your colleagues can (a) implement promising practices and (b) address issues of concern?
In my opinion, one of the most promising practices I see, besides digital literacies themselves, is the TPACK framework. This framework makes sense in terms of implementing the technological content that the Common Core State Standards requires us to do. As educators, we need to consider our pedagogical approaches to technology and not just implement technology for technology sake. By bringing in our knowledge of the content and thinking critically about our pedagogical approaches, our use of technology becomes more purposeful and meaningful. When this occurs and we can show colleagues, administrators, and parents the power of using technology in the classroom and the importance of digital literacies.
TPACK Framework
In addition to the TPACK framework, the flower model for lesson plans when it comes to inquiry based learning shows a lot of promise and potential. Though as teachers, our lesson plans are never written out in that great of detail, this model helps us to keep what is most important in the middle. As mentioned in the last question I answered, I really appreciate the idea of keeping the student at the center of the lesson. Furthermore, while we keep the students at the center, we have to keep the task in mind.
The other aspect I would like to point out is that we need to consider the tools we use with the lessons we teach in digital literacy. There are teachers who don’t take this approach today in
Flower Model Template
their classroom and if teachers have a negative attitude towards digital literacies, the learner is going to suffer. Our students do not learn in the same as they did fifteen to twenty years ago. However, this is the biggest concern that is most pressing. I often wonder how to do deal with teachers, colleagues, administrators who may say, “I don’t have time to do this.” Their understanding of digital literacies and what it encompasses ultimately seems to be a burden to them instead of seeing it as an opportunity to reach students.
I feel fortunate to have an administrator that is in full support of digital literacies and with other colleagues who are in support I feel it is important to take into consideration what Julie Coiro recommends that was presented by Michelle Hagerman which is listed below in the two slides.
Numbers nine and ten I feel are very important for truly getting colleagues on board and in addition, number seven is crucial whenever introducing a new concept to fellow teachers and to schools. By starting small, teachers won’t feel so overwhelmed and they may be more accepting of new practices. Also, there needs to be constant professional development support for teachers. As leaders of digital literacies, we can’t introduce the practice and then just let them loose. There has to be support and constant reflection on how new practices are going. It is then, we can see success.
6. Consider the list of readings assigned for this course. Briefly summarize 1-2 key insights you gleaned from each cluster of readings (e.g., Digital Literacies in Context, Generating Questions, Instructional Strategies, and Next Steps). How do you see these insights connecting with ideas and experiences shared during the Institute (especially the Keynote and Digging Deeper Sessions)?
If you are a classroom teacher, librarian, or youth media specialist, what connections do you see among the readings themselves and to your experiences during the institute or in your own work setting?
Digital Literacies in Context:
I have heard Sherry Turkle’s talk before. I completely understand her position. Afterall, she is a psychologist and I can see why she would takes the position that she does. However, I am not going to side with the experts who state that technology is not good for our society or our students. On the other hand, I will side with those who state we need to be careful with technology. I tend to side with Douglas Rushkoff when he stated we need to control the technology, not let the technology control us. The only concern that I have is for the teachers, educators, and parents who are not willing to teach our students how to use the technology available to them responsibly. Too many times I have seen students and adults alike get into trouble because they just weren’t educated on how to use a piece of hardware or software. This is where the technology starts to control us; when we don’t have the knowledge to encompass and harness what it can do for us. When it comes to thinking about how this tied to the institute, I believe by having Rushkoff speak to us, he pounded out the point that we can be the leaders in technology, but we have to know how to harness it and understand how it can help us.
Generating Questions:
The one insight I took away from this was teaching students how to not only ask questions, but they should be forming their own questions to guide their learning. We did a lot of this in the institute, whether it was the marshmallow activity, or inquiring about world issues, we practiced this skill so we can effectively teach it when we go back to our own classrooms and we learned how to use digital tools effectively without just using the tool for sake of technology.
Instructional Strategies:
The biggest thing I took away from these readings is the reflection process students should go through. I never started reflecting with my students until about two years ago. The reflection process is key for students to develop critical thinking skills. In addition, it keeps students focused on what their purpose throughout the assignment given to them. I always feel it is important for student to think about what they did well and what they can do better when it comes to a project or assignment. Furthermore, students should think about what they can better the next time they are completing an assignment.
When participating in the institute, I felt we did a lot of reflection. The biggest reflection we had was our gallery walk we had on Friday. Though we weren’t directly reflecting on our own projects we did get important feedback from other participants that in turn causes us to think about the changes we need to make to our own project. Also, we did reflecting on the institute as a whole at the end with the survey and at the end of every day through today’s meet tool.
Next Steps:
These reading were basically about where do we go from here or how are we going to implement digital literacies into our classrooms and make them part of our schools’ curriculum. As I consider myself a leader in digital literacies, I am still not confident in how to get buy in from others within in my district. As I have mentioned before, I feel I have great support from my principal and my superintendent, but every teacher is not going to feel the same as I do. It is going to be essential as a leader to show other teachers and educators how digital literacies can tie to curriculum such as the Common Core. This is what Dr. Troy Hicks and I are trying to do in our book, Create, Compose, Connect! Reading, Writing, and Learning with Digital Tools. By showing these connections, educators will be more apt to engage in digital literacies. I felt that while attending the Digital Literacies SI, the cool tool and hot topic sessions were helping us to understand how to implement digital literacies into the classroom and how to show curriculum connections.
Classroom Teacher Connections:
As a classroom teacher, what I see is that I am on the right track for full implementation of digital literacies into my classroom. Since 2010, I have slowly introduced my students to different digital tools and I have been having in depth conversations about digital citizenship. I have been allowing my student to use their cell phones, and tablets, but modeling positive and responsible ways to use the tools they have. In addition, as we use new digital tools in the classroom, I am constantly making curriculum connections for me students and having them always ask the questions “why”? For instance, why do we use a certain tool with a lesson, why is it important to inquire about certain topics, etc.
Though I feel like I am a step ahead, I know I have plenty more to learn and will continue to seek professional development when it comes to digital literacies.
7. If you had one more day in the Institute, what would you like to learn more about and why?How will you leverage your professional learning network and your new digital literacies to explore your remaining questions over the coming year?
If I had one more day at the institute I would have liked to do two things. First, I would have liked to have more time to make personal connections with other educators and how they are using digital literacies in their classrooms. With the dyads, it was great to work with one other person and to see what other dyads have had a chance to work on when we did the gallery walk. However, I would have liked to have had more in depth conversations about what other educators are doing and what exactly is going on in their schools when it comes to digital literacies.
Besides making more in depth connections, I would have liked a day, perhaps even a half a day to just “play” with the tools we were given at the institute. I feel by having the given time, I would be able to do more in depth reflection on how I could potentially use the tools in my particular classroom setting.
As I continue to reflect back on the Institute and how I have extended my learning network, I will continue to consult with my colleagues in my school, with my extended network through the National Writing Project, and now with my Digital Literacies SI colleagues by making connections through the use of Twitter, Google +, and email. I aspire to have our own digital literacy Summer Institute here in Central Michigan where we can continue to address the questions that will continue to arise as more and more digital literacies are incorporated into the classrooms. In addition, having small group discussions on a tool such as Google Hangout can help address future questions as well.
Project Page
Cool Tools Review
Overall, the cool tools sessions I attended are very applicable in various classroom settings. Not to sound like a huge know it all, but there were many of the cool tools that I already have used or have had prior knowledge. Throughout the week I attended Evernote, Mindmeister, Infogr.am, Remixing online media with Storify, Popcorn Maker, and Meograph, LoiloNote, and Symbaloo. Furthermore, I was blessed with the opportunity to present on Celly.
Though, I have used Evernote, Mindmeister, and Infogr.am before, it was exciting to see how other educators are using these tools in their classroom and by attending the sessions, it allowed me to ask questions that I was not able to answer by playing around with the tool myself.
Being further educated on the tools that were presented, I began to consider the use of Mindmeister with my 8th graders when it comes to constructing an argument. I refer a lot of my argument teaching to George Hillocks book, __Teaching Argument Writing, Grades 6-12: Supporting Claims with Relevant Evidence and Clear Reasoning__and my students use crime scenes from the __Crime and Puzzlement__ books. I want my students to work collaboratively to analyze a crime scene and use terms they will ultimately use in the argument papers they will write. Terms such as evidence, claim, and reasoning/conclusion. These terms will be used in a mind map where the students will work together to try and figure out who the killer is and then each student can use the mind map that was collaboratively developed to write their own paper. As you can see in the screenshot below, the students have pulled out pieces of evidence and made a claim. From there, the students came to a conclusion about this piece of evidence. As the students work through the crime scene, they use all of the pieces of evidence they have gathered to make a decision who the murderer was. In addition to Mindmeister, students would be using Google Documents to work collaboratively on a Police Report.
As the students work through their brainstorming and police reports, they will be working with Common Core State Standards. Below is the Standard
CCSS - W.8.1
1. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
As I continue to think about this tool, I think it is very easy for student to use and easy for teachers to demonstrate and model for their students. On the other hand, Mindmeister’s free edition only allows users to create three maps and if I want my students to use this throughout the year, this limitation could pose some potential issues. Although upgrading with Mindmeister is not overly expensive, it is a monthly fee and the fee can add up fast. I do feel that I could get by using the basic edition, but could potentially be missing out on the additional features the tool has to offer.
In conclusion, I felt the Cool Tool sessions were very beneficial. However, by Thursday, my brain had had enough. I needed more time to process all of the information from the session. Furthermore, I would have like time to play with the tool more.
Additional Course Assignments:
1. Describe some of the digital literacies that you learned about this week. What did you know about these topics before the week began and how have this week’s experiences contributed to your understanding of these digital literacies?
One of the many things that I learned about this week was how less skilled readers operate in online spaces and what more skilled readers do (Julie Coiro and Michelle Hagerman). Prior to coming to the institute, I knew, in general, students did not have a lot of strategies for locating information on the internet. In addition, I knew students had difficulties with critically evaluating information they located on the internet. My students struggle with this constantly when it comes to the multigenre research project we do in the classroom.
I learned the strategies good online readers do. For example, they ask questions, read to locate information, read to evaluate information, and read to synthesize information. These strategies presented to us, are going to be helpful when scaffolding for my own students.
My biggest takeaways from Julie and Michelle when they spoke on Tuesday were:
I have had prior knowledge about inquiry based learning and have even attended some PD on Project based learning which possess some of the same elements. However, the complexity of inquiry based learning and the strategies involved with it are going to not only going to help my understanding, but have already help guide me in the process of developing lesson and unit plans for my students that are strictly inquiry based.
2. Now that you’ve had this professional development experience, how are you defining “digital literacy?” What is your personal perspective on digital literacy and how has your definition changed or evolved this week? Where possible, make specific connections to readings, conversations, presentations, or activities that were especially important to the evolution of your definition of digital literacy.
Digital literacy is much more than the use of technology in an educational setting. It is the use, evaluation, and the ability to maneuver through different medias in such as way that reveals the creativity individuals have the potential to express. To me it also means teaching students how to be responsible with the different types of technologies they come into contact with whether it is Facebook, Twitter, a cell phone, tablet, or texting a friend. In all honesty, I feel I will always be a learner of digital literacy and my definition will forever be evolving. The slide below presented by Renee on Wednesday really helped me in constructing my definition, especially the reflection piece. I feel it is vitally important for students to reflect back on their work and discuss why they choose certain medias or tools to use in their digitally literate lives. The five words listed on the slide truly do help people understand what digital literacy encompasses.
3. How do digital literacies affect the way you think aboutacademic content?
My view of academic content has changed dramatically because of digital literacies. One specific example I constantly revisit is the book report. Traditionally students read a book and then wrote or typed a one to two page summary of what the book was about. Since digital literacies have been gaining ground, students have become less motivated to not only read, but to produce a piece of writing that lacks creativity.
Today, students can produce more creative media that demonstrates they have actually read the book. In addition, students are reading differently today as well. Many students are walking through classroom doors with Kindles, iPads, and other tablets that allows them to read virtually anywhere and they can take multiple texts with them. As their teacher, I have to be open to the idea of students using their mobile devices in my classroom. On the other hand, when thinking about a “report”, students can produce a __Glog__ where they can display visual literacies that represent their book while using other forms of media to help display their knowledge within their poster. Students can also produce a digital book trailer using a tool like __Animoto__. Book trailers are a quick thirty second glimpse into what the book is about. It is similar to a movie trailer you see on
television. By clicking on the book cover you can see a student example of a book trailer.
Now when students produce media such as a Glog or a book trailer, they have to not only think about the written text incorporated into their project, but they have to think about choosing pictures, music, animations, transitions, speed, etc. Students are still keeping their audience in mind, but now they have to think of the other elements listed and also think of why they may choose a certain song or picture and how that is going to affect their video or poster. In addition, what message it is going to send to their audience.
As students think about all of these things, they are allowed to be more creative and display their strengths, especially if they are given choices in what media they use to complete their report. Being their teacher, I have to think about all of these elements too because these are the types of medias students are exposed to on a daily basis through the internet and their mobile devices. Choice is another area that digital literacies have allowed me to give to my students. By giving the students choices, they take more of a vested interest in their work.
By allowing my students to use their mobile devices and allowing them to explore different media, they are getting exposed to tools they may potentially work with in the job force. Now that digital literacies are completely infused into my classroom, I am getting students in touch with how digital media works and letting them play with the very same tools that are used when media is produced for them.
4. How do digital literacies affect teaching practices? What overarching considerations must teachers give, in general, to the interactions of digital literacies and how to teach? Now, focus on your own pedagogical practice. How will your new understanding of digital literacy affect the way you teach? Describe an example of how you will differently employ a specific teaching practice in your own context as a result of what you learned this week.
Teachers aren’t and can’t just teach with pencil and paper anymore. Thought the two will never disappear, how students learn today has drastically changed. Today, teachers must understand that students are digital. Teachers must rethink the use of cell phones, tablets, and laptops into their lessons. In addition, I feel educators need to teach students why to chose certain music, images, words, transitions, etc. when it dealing with digital literacies. Furthermore, teachers need to realize literacy is much more than a five hundred word essay.
When it comes to my own pedagogical practice, I am going to keep students at the center of my lessons and units, which is something I have not done in the past. This was one of the big "ah ha" moments for me during the week. One example I am going to incorporate into my classroom is giving my students more choice when it comes to presenting what they have learned. With this differentiation, students will take a more vested interest in their learning and become more creative when it comes to their work. I am definitely going to be keeping my students in the center of what we do everyday in our classroom.
5. During the week, you were introduced to several concerns and promising practices around digital literacy, digital pedagogy, social networking, and student voice that are circulating among communities of educators, librarians, and youth media specialists. From your perspective, what promising practices show the most potential? Which specific concerns are most pressing? What key takeaways will you champion in your own work setting(s) so that together, you and your colleagues can (a) implement promising practices and (b) address issues of concern?
In my opinion, one of the most promising practices I see, besides digital literacies themselves, is the TPACK framework. This framework makes sense in terms of implementing the technological content that the Common Core State Standards requires us to do. As educators, we need to consider our pedagogical approaches to technology and not just implement technology for technology sake. By bringing in our knowledge of the content and thinking critically about our pedagogical approaches, our use of technology becomes more purposeful and meaningful. When this occurs and we can show colleagues, administrators, and parents the power of using technology in the classroom and the importance of digital literacies.
TPACK Framework
In addition to the TPACK framework, the flower model for lesson plans when it comes to inquiry based learning shows a lot of promise and potential. Though as teachers, our lesson plans are never written out in that great of detail, this model helps us to keep what is most important in the middle. As mentioned in the last question I answered, I really appreciate the idea of keeping the student at the center of the lesson. Furthermore, while we keep the students at the center, we have to keep the task in mind.
The other aspect I would like to point out is that we need to consider the tools we use with the lessons we teach in digital literacy. There are teachers who don’t take this approach today in
Flower Model Template
their classroom and if teachers have a negative attitude towards digital literacies, the learner is going to suffer. Our students do not learn in the same as they did fifteen to twenty years ago. However, this is the biggest concern that is most pressing. I often wonder how to do deal with teachers, colleagues, administrators who may say, “I don’t have time to do this.” Their understanding of digital literacies and what it encompasses ultimately seems to be a burden to them instead of seeing it as an opportunity to reach students.
I feel fortunate to have an administrator that is in full support of digital literacies and with other colleagues who are in support I feel it is important to take into consideration what Julie Coiro recommends that was presented by Michelle Hagerman which is listed below in the two slides.
Numbers nine and ten I feel are very important for truly getting colleagues on board and in addition, number seven is crucial whenever introducing a new concept to fellow teachers and to schools. By starting small, teachers won’t feel so overwhelmed and they may be more accepting of new practices. Also, there needs to be constant professional development support for teachers. As leaders of digital literacies, we can’t introduce the practice and then just let them loose. There has to be support and constant reflection on how new practices are going. It is then, we can see success.
6. Consider the list of readings assigned for this course. Briefly summarize 1-2 key insights you gleaned from each cluster of readings (e.g., Digital Literacies in Context, Generating Questions, Instructional Strategies, and Next Steps). How do you see these insights connecting with ideas and experiences shared during the Institute (especially the Keynote and Digging Deeper Sessions)?
Digital Literacies in Context:
I have heard Sherry Turkle’s talk before. I completely understand her position. Afterall, she is a psychologist and I can see why she would takes the position that she does. However, I am not going to side with the experts who state that technology is not good for our society or our students. On the other hand, I will side with those who state we need to be careful with technology. I tend to side with Douglas Rushkoff when he stated we need to control the technology, not let the technology control us. The only concern that I have is for the teachers, educators, and parents who are not willing to teach our students how to use the technology available to them responsibly. Too many times I have seen students and adults alike get into trouble because they just weren’t educated on how to use a piece of hardware or software. This is where the technology starts to control us; when we don’t have the knowledge to encompass and harness what it can do for us. When it comes to thinking about how this tied to the institute, I believe by having Rushkoff speak to us, he pounded out the point that we can be the leaders in technology, but we have to know how to harness it and understand how it can help us.
Generating Questions:
The one insight I took away from this was teaching students how to not only ask questions, but they should be forming their own questions to guide their learning. We did a lot of this in the institute, whether it was the marshmallow activity, or inquiring about world issues, we practiced this skill so we can effectively teach it when we go back to our own classrooms and we learned how to use digital tools effectively without just using the tool for sake of technology.
Instructional Strategies:
The biggest thing I took away from these readings is the reflection process students should go through. I never started reflecting with my students until about two years ago. The reflection process is key for students to develop critical thinking skills. In addition, it keeps students focused on what their purpose throughout the assignment given to them. I always feel it is important for student to think about what they did well and what they can do better when it comes to a project or assignment. Furthermore, students should think about what they can better the next time they are completing an assignment.
When participating in the institute, I felt we did a lot of reflection. The biggest reflection we had was our gallery walk we had on Friday. Though we weren’t directly reflecting on our own projects we did get important feedback from other participants that in turn causes us to think about the changes we need to make to our own project. Also, we did reflecting on the institute as a whole at the end with the survey and at the end of every day through today’s meet tool.
Next Steps:
These reading were basically about where do we go from here or how are we going to implement digital literacies into our classrooms and make them part of our schools’ curriculum. As I consider myself a leader in digital literacies, I am still not confident in how to get buy in from others within in my district. As I have mentioned before, I feel I have great support from my principal and my superintendent, but every teacher is not going to feel the same as I do. It is going to be essential as a leader to show other teachers and educators how digital literacies can tie to curriculum such as the Common Core. This is what Dr. Troy Hicks and I are trying to do in our book, Create, Compose, Connect! Reading, Writing, and Learning with Digital Tools. By showing these connections, educators will be more apt to engage in digital literacies. I felt that while attending the Digital Literacies SI, the cool tool and hot topic sessions were helping us to understand how to implement digital literacies into the classroom and how to show curriculum connections.
Classroom Teacher Connections:
As a classroom teacher, what I see is that I am on the right track for full implementation of digital literacies into my classroom. Since 2010, I have slowly introduced my students to different digital tools and I have been having in depth conversations about digital citizenship. I have been allowing my student to use their cell phones, and tablets, but modeling positive and responsible ways to use the tools they have. In addition, as we use new digital tools in the classroom, I am constantly making curriculum connections for me students and having them always ask the questions “why”? For instance, why do we use a certain tool with a lesson, why is it important to inquire about certain topics, etc.
Though I feel like I am a step ahead, I know I have plenty more to learn and will continue to seek professional development when it comes to digital literacies.
7. If you had one more day in the Institute, what would you like to learn more about and why?How will you leverage your professional learning network and your new digital literacies to explore your remaining questions over the coming year?
If I had one more day at the institute I would have liked to do two things. First, I would have liked to have more time to make personal connections with other educators and how they are using digital literacies in their classrooms. With the dyads, it was great to work with one other person and to see what other dyads have had a chance to work on when we did the gallery walk. However, I would have liked to have had more in depth conversations about what other educators are doing and what exactly is going on in their schools when it comes to digital literacies.
Besides making more in depth connections, I would have liked a day, perhaps even a half a day to just “play” with the tools we were given at the institute. I feel by having the given time, I would be able to do more in depth reflection on how I could potentially use the tools in my particular classroom setting.
As I continue to reflect back on the Institute and how I have extended my learning network, I will continue to consult with my colleagues in my school, with my extended network through the National Writing Project, and now with my Digital Literacies SI colleagues by making connections through the use of Twitter, Google +, and email. I aspire to have our own digital literacy Summer Institute here in Central Michigan where we can continue to address the questions that will continue to arise as more and more digital literacies are incorporated into the classrooms. In addition, having small group discussions on a tool such as Google Hangout can help address future questions as well.